- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Egypt is at it again and while it
might be time to stop and ask, “Seriously? Are you guys ever going to stop
rioting? This is getting old in a hurry,” Egyptians are in no mood to calm
down. If they were, then there would not have been violent clashes Friday in several Egyptian cities after supporters of ousted President Mohammed
Morsi took to the streets. Cairo saw the best action, with heavy gunfire and
explosions rocking the center of the city and tear gas in the air. Troops were out in
force to prevent the protesters reaching Tahrir Square, but government forces
denied reports that a protester was killed. Additional clashes were reported in
the northern Sharqiya district and to the east in Giza, as well as in the
northern port city of Alexandria. Some of the day’s violence reportedly
occurred between pro-Morsi demonstrators and civilian supporters of the
military government, two sides that have fueled a nonstop wave of violence
since the Egyptian military deposed Morsi in July. By the time the smoke
clears, odds are that there will be at least a few additions to the thousands
of members of the Muslim Brotherhood who have been detained over the past two
months. In the midst of the sh*t storm, Morsi and several senior members of his
regime are being held on charges such as incitement to violence and murder. The
current leadership is framing its crackdown as a struggle against
"terrorism.” Protestors who showed up for Friday’s riots were heard
chanting "Rabaa, Rabaa,” a reference to the square next to the Rabaa
al-Adawiya mosque where a sit-in was cleared by force in August. Near the end
of Friday’s riot, security forces fired tear gas at Morsi supporters as they
tried to march towards Tahrir Square and took up positions on both sides of
Qasr al-Nil Bridge, which leads to the square from the Zamalek district. Adding
another delightful dimension to the day, the Muslim Brotherhood criticized the
officers behind the overthrow of Morsi, comparing them to Adolf Hitler. It’s
never a party until someone likens someone else to Hitler………
- Watch the f*cking language, Springfield (Mass.) police. If
a certain state
representative has his way, you could be disciplined and even fired for using
foul language or racial slurs. Rep. Benjamin Swan is of the opinion that sworn
police officers should not use derogatory language when addressing citizens. Why the f*ck he
feels that way, no one is f*cking sure. “If
you take an oath to uphold the public safety, you have no reason to use foul
language. You have no reason to abuse anybody verbally because of their race,
gender, national origin, religion, whatever,” Swan said. It’s a bullsh*t idea
and not surprisingly, Swan has introduced the bill before, only to see it fail.
This time, he said, it is receiving more attention and although increased
attention in no way means the bill has a chance in hell of passing, Swan seems
genuinely fired up by its chances to become a law. “I’ve had a lot of
complaints and I’ve heard and I’ve witnessed misuse of language on the part of
sworn officers,” he added. One might think that Springfield Police Commissioner
Spokesperson Charlie Youmans and the rest of the SPD would have strong feelings
about the proposed law and yet, Youmans offered up only politi-speak B.S. when
asked about it, nothing that officers already have high standards to adhere to
while on the job. “Most police officers on this job are 210-percent
professionals. They handle all situations, no matter how it comes back at
them,” Youmans notes. Hang on….210 percent? Where the hell did that number come
from? Going with 101 percent, maybe. Even the clichéd 110 percent, perhaps. But
210 percent? That just seems über-random and arbitrary. Mayor
Domenic Sarno also had thoughts on the idea and seemed relatively
supportive. “I always want my police department to act brave and courageously,
but always be very respectful in very difficult decisions,” Sarno said. The
bill took its first step Thursday with a riveting hearing before the Homeland
Security and Public Safety Committee on Beacon Hill………
- Cleveland is still Cleveland. Any doubt that the
prototypical Rust Belt city that once set its own lake on fire had shaken its perennially
beaten-down status and adopted the persona of a winner went out the window in a
24-hour span from late Wednesday night to late Thursday. First, the Cleveland
Indians took a 10-game winning streak into a Wild Card play-in game against
Tampa Bay and proceeded to squander numerous scoring chances in a 4-0 loss to
end their year. Twenty-four hours later, even as the Browns closed out a 37-24
win over Buffalo to go to 3-2 and claim first place in the AFC North, bad news
wasn’t far away. Browns quarterback
Brian Hoyer, who stepped in to replace the injured and incompetent Brandon
Weeden and led the team to two straight wins, was starting his third game in a
row when he tore his ACL in Thursday night's victory against the Bills. Hoyer will
miss the remainder of the season, coach Rob Chudzinski said Friday after an MRI
confirmed the injury. "I
just got word back on the MRI for Brian Hoyer. It is a torn ACL that will
require surgery," Chudzinski said. "There is no other damage besides
the ACL. Obviously he'll be out for the season." Hoyer went down at the
3:57 mark of the first quarter when he was hit by Bills linebacker Kiko Alonso
during an awkward slide following a long run. The anguished expression on
Hoyer’s face was a hint that something really bad had happened, as was the fact
that he was on crutches with his right knee immobilized after the game. While
Weeden was surprisingly competent in relief and the Browns won to temporarily
seize sole possession of first place in the division, Browns fans saw just
enough of Hoyer to get excited about what he can do and begin dreaming of a
playoff berth, but not enough to know if Hoyer is the Browns’ quarterback of
the future. Their team has also won enough games to ruin its chances of a top
draft pick, but now will have to overcome Weeden’s turnover-prone ways in order
to actually reach the playoffs. Yes, God still hates Cleveland……..
- October became Hack-tober for Adobe, which on Friday
revealed that it had become the latest big-name data breach victim. The company admitted in a
statement that hackers gained unauthorized access to 2.9 million customer
accounts and stole part of the source code for at least two major
consumer-facing products. The hackers procured credit card information and
intellectual property, showing that nothing is safe. On the heels of similar
breaches at LexisNexis, Kroll Background America and Dunn & Bradstreet,
tech users (pretty much everyone with a pulse at this point) can't be feeling
too secure. The thieves are believed to have stolen source code for Adobe
Acrobat and Adobe ColdFusion, a web app development tool. Depending upon the
scope of the theft, this could ultimately rank as one of the most devastating
attacks ever against a major tech company. Adobe’s products are used by
virtually anyone with a computer or tablet and most developers use ColdFusion
to design their next would-be successful app. Because the hackers’ identity is
not known, their endgame is unclear. Security experts believe they could be
concocting new ways to take control of computing devices and sneak deep inside
corporate networks. In Adobe’s defense, at least it encrypted customers'
information, unlike Sony, which infamously lost unencrypted payment card data
for 77 million PlayStation Network and 25 million Sony Online Entertainment
subscribers to the Anonymous hacking collective in 2011. Still, close to 40 GB
of Adobe source code were stolen and this admission from Brad Arkin, chief
security officer of Adobe, probably isn't salving those wounds. "Very
recently, Adobe's security team discovered sophisticated attacks on our
network, involving the illegal access of customer information as well as source
code for numerous Adobe products…at this time, we do not believe the attackers
removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers from our systems. We deeply
regret that this incident occurred.” Step your game up, Adobe………
- DAMMIT, BRINGING “24” BACK TO TV IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME! I
AM NOT GOING TO ASK YOU AGAIN! WHERE IS THE SCRIPT FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF
THIS ICONIC TV SHOW? Jack Bauer may not have yelled those words, but he damn
well could have in the three years fans of his hit TV show have waited for the
much-discussed movie sequel to take place. Talk of the movie, its script, its
funding and which characters from the show would be in it, has ebbed and flowed
since “24” aired its final episode in 2010. The project is moving forward once
more and its much-anticipated limited event series follow-up to the show is on the fast
track to reality. Fox announced Thursday that the project will take place in
London and aside from the chance to visit one of the world’s great cities and
enjoy quality fish, chips, bangers and mash, Sutherland is excited about the
chance to bring “24” to the world. "24 has always had such a global
sensibility, but to be able to tell this intense 24-style story with the beauty
of Europe's history and architecture as the backdrop is going to be
fascinating," Sutherland said. "Hopefully, by the time you're finished
watching an episode, you'll feel like you've been there...on the edge of your
seat." Along with Sutherland and co-star Mary Lynn Rajskub, executive
producer Evan Katz is also on board and talking the series up. "We wanted
the show's return to be an event, and part of that was putting Jack in a very
different context,” Katz added. “Four years ago, we left Jack a fugitive from
justice and we're going to pick him up four years later in London." London
now joins New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Cape Town as places the series
has filmed. “24: Live Another Day” will air next summer……….
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